Publications

24 Apr 2023
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Build as Much Buzz as Booze? Inside the Epic Challenge of Cannabis-Infused Drinks

today has a number of investors, including celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosario Dawson, and recently raised $27 million in Series A funding. Cann’s products are now available sold in 34 states in the US and two provinces in... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

October 1993 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Michigan Manufacturing Corp.: The Pontiac Plant--1988

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Michigan Manufacturing is a broad-line maker of components for the automotive industry. It has developed a network of nine plants as its product line has grown. Newer, higher-volume products tend to be made in newer, focused, high-volume plants, while older product... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Profit; Brands and Branding; Mission and Purpose; Networks; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

products, but they became worldwide brands because of the capabilities of Unilever. Their success rested on the choices made on strategy and organization, on the recruitment and development of managers, on the allocation of spending... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

January 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Silverado (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Charles J. Woodard

Silverado has raised $50 million and launched its first product: an Internet-based trivia game with innovative software. In a highly uncertain environment, the young management team must decide whether to continue developing the product and whether to branch out into... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Strategic Planning; Internet and the Web; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Launch; Business Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

October 2012 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Kleiner-Perkins and Genentech: When Venture Capital Met Science

By: Felda Hardymon and Tom Nicholas

Genentech is a rare success story in the biotechnology industry. Hundreds of billions of dollars of venture capital have been invested without the expected transformational effects. Established in 1976, Genentech was to develop the new science of recombinant DNA into... View Details

Keywords: Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Science; Biotechnology Industry; United States

May 26, 2021
Article

The Challenge of Rebuilding U.S. Domestic Supply Chains

By: Willy C. Shih, Robert S. Huckman and James Wyner

Massachusetts-based Shawmut scrambled to expand production to meet the soaring demand for N95 masks and hospital gowns during the pandemic. Its experience illustrates a crucial point that policymakers should take to heart: Once a country loses its industrial commons... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain; Health Pandemics; Production; Management; United States

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Research Summary

Overview

Hisano’s research addresses the social and cultural implications of technological development and economic changes mainly in the twentieth-century United States. By analyzing the regulation, manipulation, and presentation of food color, her current book project links... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Consumer Behavior; Agribusiness; Food And Environment; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Business And Government; Advertising; Goods and Commodities; Food; History; Government and Politics; Marketing; Business and Government Relations; Advertising Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Chemical Industry; United States

April 2013
Article

Information and Subsidies: Complements or Substitutes?

By: Nava Ashraf, B. Kelsey Jack and Emir Kamenica

Does providing information about a product affect the impact of price subsidies on purchases of new or unfamiliar products? This question is particularly relevant for the introduction of health products in developing countries where consumers may be uncertain about... View Details

Keywords: Subsidies; Information; Consumer Behavior; Health; Zambia

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June – July 2008
Article

A Better Approach to Foreign Aid

By: Justin Muzinich and Eric D. Werker

Frustration with U.S. foreign aid is widespread. At the same time, flows of private development finance—including foreign direct investment and remittances—have begun to dwarf official aid. We suggest a new approach that harnesses the power of private development... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Foreign Direct Investment; International Relations; Taxation; Welfare or Wellbeing; United States

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Jorge Tamayo is an assistant professor of business administration in the Strategy Unit. He teaches the Strategy course in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Tamayo is an applied microeconomist primarily interested in industrial organization and... View Details

May 1994
Case

Colgate-Palmolive: Managing International Careers

Colgate-Palmolive, the U.S.-based consumer products firm, has long emphasized international experience for its managers and has developed a comprehensive policy to manage expatriate assignments. The rise in dual-career families has made some managers reluctant to... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Personal Development and Career; Experience and Expertise; Consumer Products Industry; United States

15 Jul 2012
News

Using research to solve real world problems

June 2024
Case

Aidoc: Building a Hospital-Centric AI Platform

By: Ariel D. Stern and Susan Pinckney

In 2023, Israel-based AI health care company Aidoc evaluated its future. The company, founded in 2016, had grown from commercializing a single AI product for radiologists to a software platform that could detect 20 conditions and immediately notify care teams of... View Details

January 1994 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Xerox: Design for the Environment

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

In 1990, Xerox undertook an "Environmental Leadership Program" designed to make Xerox an industry leader in non-polluting operations, recycling, and products actually designed for the environment. This effort flowed naturally out of the system of total quality... View Details

Keywords: Product Design; Production; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Design; Environmental Sustainability

November 2018
Case

frog design

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

The case follows the genesis and development of Palo, a radical urban communications hub designed to replace payphone booths on Manhattan’s city streets, through a joint venture between frog design and a venture-backed firm LQD WiFi. The case explores the complexity of... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Prototyping; User Experience Design; Design Heuristics; Telecommunications; Urban Systems; Communication Technology; Urban Scope; Innovation and Invention; Design; Product Development

March 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Microsoft's Unlimited Potential (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

In April 2007, Bill Gates announced Microsoft Unlimited Potential. Its mission was to enable social and economic opportunity for the next five billion people. To deliver against this mission, Microsoft sought to focus its citizenship efforts and its product development... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Emerging Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development Strategy

June 2020 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Deloitte's Pixel (A): Consulting with Open Talent

By: Michael L. Tushman, John Winsor and Kerry Herman

Deloitte Consulting’s General Manager Balaji Bondili, head of Pixel, considers how best to grow Deloitte Consulting’s use of open (on-demand) talent, as consulting companies and their clients face transformative change in the way client engagements and projects get... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Talent and Talent Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Consulting Industry; United States